Japanese Yellowfin Export Volume Shoots Up

The yellowfin tuna showed the biggest rise of all seafood exports from Japan, with salmon and trout following closely behind with an increase of 350 percent.

Total seafood exports (including fishmeal) from Japan rose by a massive 78.4 percent in May compared to the same time last year, with tuna species bonito following trend with more than double the exports, showing increases of 138 percent.

While the average unit price of exports from Japan fell, the huge increase of the volume of fish shipped from the country meant that the total value was still over 50 percent higher.

But while Japan’s seafood exports show dramatic growths, the country’s imports of seafood fell by 8.6 percent, significantly impacted by a huge fall of the trout and salmon trade.

Yellowfin tuna imports also took a hit by dropping a considerable 11.3 percent, while bigeye tuna imported into Japan plummeted by a huge 29.1 percent. These numbers can be explained by the higher availability of domestically caught yellowfin.

Figures show that the volume of fish shipped to Japan last May has this year fallen by as much as a third from 24,000 metric tons to just over 16,000.

While import volumes were recorded as falling, the average unit price increased by just over 10 percent, meaning that that the value of Japan’s imports still saw a rise of 0.7 percent when compared to last year’s figures.